Catharine Sedgwick's Pequod War

Catharine Sedgwick was a prominent early 19th century female author. Growing up in Massachusetts as one of the youngest of ten children she was able to express herself through writing and reading. She admired scholarly and imaginative writers, such as, Edgar Allen Poe and James Fenimore Cooper. In 1827, her most successful work was Hope Leslie (Early Times in the Massachusetts). The book explores two volumes worth of drama
Specifically, chapter 4 explores the moments before and the consequence of the “Pequod War.” Oppositely, at the end of volume two; explores the result of a complicated love circle.

For some informative context for Volume I; in 18th century, New England, America there was a power struggle between Native Indians and the English Protestant Puritans. The Puritans initiated a surprise war, the Pequod War, against innocent Native American women and children in a small community called Pequod village. Exclusively, in chapter 4, it focuses on three main characters:
• Hope Leslie, daughter of Alice Fletcher and Charles Leslie;
• Everell Fletcher, son of Puritan William Fletcher who adopts Hope (and sister Faith) when their parents die;
• Lastly, Magawisca, a young Native American girl who is a servant of the Fletchers along with her brother, …show more content…
Philip Freneau’s poem “The Indian Burring Ground,” shows native American burial traditions and when the whites invade their land. The Europeans considered the natives a “ruder race” (Line 24) and barbaric “children of the forest” (Line 28). Freneau explains the aspects of Native American burial traditions. In burial they do not lie flat but are seated; “Observe the swelling turf…they do not lie, but here they sit” (Line 19-20). Once they die they are more useful to society, now they are the protectors of the land. It is admirable that the dead are part of the community and therefore highly respected by family